Abstract

We demonstrate an experimental method to understand the mechanical response of carbon nanotube(CNT) ensembles to fluid flow through the measurement of the flexural rigidity , where is the elastic modulus and is the moment of inertia. A flexural rigidity of was determined for the samples examined, by monitoring the transmitted light intensity for the CNTs subject to flow induced deflections. The robustness of the measurements was revealed through the digital response of CNTs to fluid flow and their use in gas flow diagnostics.

Received 19 May 2009Accepted 04 September 2009Published online 09 October 2009

Acknowledgments:

Both C.P.D. and C.N. contributed equally to the project. We gratefully acknowledge support from the National Science Foundation (Grant Nos. ECS-05-08514 and DMI-0304019) and the Office of Naval Research (Award No. N00014-06-1-0234). P.R.B. acknowledges Dr. B. Fruhberger, and the staff at the Nano3 facility at CAL in University of California, San Diego, CA.